Auto Club: New Month, New Gas Price Records

(LOS ANGELES, May 2, 2008) - Gas price averages hit the dreaded $4-a-gallon mark in Central and Northern California this week and loomed closer in Southern California as the area entered its second month of record prices, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California's Weekend Gas Watch.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.902, which is 4.4 cents more than last week, 29 cents higher than last month, and 50 cents above last year. In San Diego, the price is $3.947, which is 5.3 cents higher than last week's price, 30.5 cents above last month, and 53 cents higher than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $4.019, up 5.3 cents from last week, 27 cents above last month, and 50 cents more than last year. In the Inland Empire, the average price is $3.919, 4.1 cents over last week, up 29.5 cents from last month, and 51 cents higher than last year.

"In four of the past eight years, local gas prices have peaked in May, and no spring price spike during the past eight years has lasted beyond May," said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring. "Last year, our prices reached all-time records in Southern California on May 9 and then started to decline. We'll have to see if the stubbornly high oil prices of this year will change that pattern."

The Weekend Gas Watch monitors the average price of gasoline as of 12:01 a.m., May 2:

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The Automobile Club of Southern California is a member club affiliated with the American Automobile Association (AAA) national federation and serves members in the following California counties: Inyo, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.